


Wild Horses

by darkdiamond



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: #mentions of Emily Derek and Spencer, Fluff and Angst, Hotch gets stabbed, Insecure Hotch, M/M, Worried Rossi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 23:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9351917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkdiamond/pseuds/darkdiamond
Summary: “We're lost without you, you know that.” The huge lump in Dave's throat made talking hard, his voice cracked.“I am lost without you.”His eyes filled with tears.Pressing a kiss to Aaron’s forehead, he couldn't stop a quiet sob from escaping his mouth.Aaron passed out a second before the paramedics arrived.





	

It happened. The thing he had always been most afraid of. He got stabbed and he'd never thought it would hurt this bad.

~•~ 

“Put the knife down.”

Aaron Hotchner’s voice was deep, frightening. He pronounced the words in way that would have had any little girl crying by the time he'd have finished the sentence.

He didn't exactly know where, in the huge house, his team was. They were probably looking for the second missing little boy that the UnSub had taken away from his parents. He’d gone up the staircase alone, he was pretty sure. Maybe he should've waited.

 

The UnSub held the knife closer to the little boy’s throat.

Aaron saw Dave coming up behind the man, nodding at Aaron. His look saying _“I'm with you.”_ It made him feel a familiar kind of safe. 

“I said put the knife down.” Aaron held his gun up higher, making it look like he was ready to shoot him. The UnSub didn't care.

“You wish.” He smiled in such a disgusting way and moved his hand, so that Hotch had to shoot him in the leg. He knew there was no way he would have made a change in his behavior. That was not exactly what psychopaths do.

As the shot was fired, the UnSub yelped and released the boy from his arms.

The frightened child ran to hide in the closest corner and Aaron slightly turned his head to tell him that everything was going to be fine.

But before the first word could even leave his mouth, his eyes widened in shock, feeling the air escape his lungs.

The UnSub had made a jump towards him and stabbed him in the stomach. 

His head snapped back up, as he heard some loud noise, and suddenly Dave was standing there, gun in front of his body. He'd shot the man. 

He looked down, with shaking hands he touched the wound. Rising his hand again, it was covered in his blood. Dave stared at him with pure horror in his eyes. 

Aaron Hotchner had surely built up his pain tolerance throughout the years of being an FBI Agent, but he reached his limit right then and there.

~•~ 

His sight went blurry. White dots dancing in front of his eyes made him dizzy.

Slowly sinking to the ground, he choked out a breathless sob. _Help_.

His knees violently collided with the ground.

But he didn't feel a thing. His body was numb.

Looking up, he could hardly see the shocked expression of the UnSub as he sank to the ground, just as Aaron had done.

He hadn't expected Dave to be behind him.

Hadn't expected to get shot.

 

Aaron lay his head on the ground, closing his eyes.

He wished for something else than the wound on his abdomen to hurt. For something to distract him. It was so bad he couldn't breathe.

He growled desperately, tears were burning in his eyes. 

A second later, he felt a presence rushing next to him.

He slowly opened his eyes, squinting to see the man above him clearly. “Dave”, he whispered.

During any other situation, Aaron would've laughed at the man's worried expression, he always behaved like an overprotective mother if there was just possibly the tiniest thing wrong with him. But this time his concern was justified.

Dave pressed his shaking hands to the bleeding wound, trying everything to stop the bloodf from flowing. 

He was feeling a puddle of guilt deep in his stomach, because he knew damn well just how bad the pain Aaron was in must've been.

Aaron whimpered quietly, “Dave…”

He couldn't finish the sentence, he couldn't breathe.

“Shh, don't talk. Help is on the way”, Dave whispered.

He looked down, his hands were covered in his partner’s blood.

It was everywhere. His clothes, the floor, all over Aaron’s body. He started panicking.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Aaron was supposed to be okay. They had promised. _They would always be okay._

Aaron whimpered in pain once again, closing his eyes.

“Stay with me”, Dave whispered as Emily and Spencer sat down next to him, exchanging more than worried glances. 

They heard Derek shouting for the paramedics.

 

“We're lost without you, you know that.” The huge lump in Dave's throat made talking hard, his voice cracked.

_“I am lost without you.”_

His eyes filled with tears.

Pressing a kiss to Aaron’s forehead, he couldn't stop a quiet sob from escaping his mouth.

Aaron passed out a second before the paramedics arrived.

~•~

It took him three days to wake up.

Three days of Dave sitting next to his bed, on one of these stereotyped hospital chairs, holding his hand like his life was depending on it.  _Maybe it was._

Three days of _“Agent Rossi, we promise to inform you as soon as he wakes up, you need to get some rest and go home”_ , and him taking advantage of being an FBI Agent and not leaving Aaron’s side.

Three days of the team dropping by, making sure not only Hotch, but also Dave, were alive and breathing.

And as Aaron finally opened his eyes, Dave only managed to choke out a whisper of his name, a tear rolling down his cheek.

~•~

He had been lucky, as the doctor told them later on.

“No organs got injured, you lost lots of blood, but that was handled and you'll fully recover from it again. But you need to make sure not to stretch the wound. And Agent Hotchner, stay out of the field for a while. No physical activity for at least one and a half months.”

Aaron had just stared into the air with a blank expression, not showing any emotions. Dave knew he was screaming on the inside.

Dave immediately promised the doctor to make sure he would do as he was told.

He knew Aaron could never, ever, not work for a month. He just had to convince him that getting himself hurt more badly wasn't going to help anyone, and that helping the team from his desk would have to be enough for a while.

~•~

It was four days after Aaron had been released from the hospital, when Dave finally talked him into not getting in danger for two months.

Meaning Aaron Hotchner not being Aaron Hotchner for two months.

It had been a heated discussion, a serious fight, almost.

There was Aaron snapping (and regretting it moments later) that it wasn't _“your fucking business, Dave”_ and Dave shaking so badly Aaron was afraid he could go right back and take now Dave to the hospital.

“Not my fucking business!?” He'd shouted back, becoming silent as he remembered that it was Aaron standing on front of him.

Aaron, who had been stabbed, who couldn't do his job for two long months, who couldn't do what made him Aaron.

Aaron, who he'd been loving for many long years, who he knew he would love for many more long years.

Aaron, whom he went to bed with late at night, and got up with early in the morning.

Aaron, whom he never, ever wanted to live without.

Dave sat down on their couch, putting his head into his hands, pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose.

He took a deep breath, looking up at Aaron. He wasn't ready for this conversation. 

“Why do you always act like you getting hurt is not a big deal?”, he asked, his voice quiet and thin.

Aaron swallowed.

“I don't.”

“Yes, you do, Aaron.”

He looked at him, obviously not knowing what to answer.

“How many years have we been together now?”

“Fourteen.” Aaron smiled slightly. 

Dave nodded, fourteen years.

“After fourteen years, you still think you're not important?”

“I don-”, Aaron started, but was cut off by Dave.

“Let me finish and _don't you_ argue right now. In any dangerous situation, you're the first one that would give their life for the team without hesitation. Which is a quality about you that I used to admire, but I have realized that you do it because you think you're not as valuable.”

Aaron silently shook his head, then closed his eyes, as if he didn't want to see the pain in Dave's expression.

“Because I'm not.”

No one said anything for a while after the words had quietly left his mouth.

Dave knew Aaron had been fighting his demons all his life. He knew the biggest one was his father. Feeling like a failure had started early in his life and he never quite got rid of it. Being loved and being successful could never make up for a family that didn't support you when you needed it the most. 

Dave blankly stared into the distance. It looked like he wasn't thinking anything at all, but Aaron knew his mind was working. 

 

“I love you, Aaron”, he eventually said after some time, “I love you, and I'm not going to lose you. And I don't care if that's selfish because you're the best fucking thing that ever happened to me and wild horses couldn't drag me away from you.”

And then Dave pushed himself up, with a little sound of his knees protesting, and walked over to Aaron. And he pulled him into a hug and Aaron could feel his heart beating underneath his skin.

And he knew he loved Dave and he knew Dave loved him. And that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> So this was my first Aaron/Dave story, yay! Hope you enjoyed.  
> English is not my first language so I am sorry for any mistakes.  
> Comments would be highly appreciated (:
> 
> Title taken from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands - Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones


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